The Liberty Papers

A new study suggests that simply due to the results of blood pressure, obesity, blood glucose levels and smoking, American life expectancy is artificially low by 4.9 and 4.1 years for men and women, respectively (h/t Reason):

A new study led by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in collaboration with researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington estimates that smoking, high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and overweight and obesity currently reduce life expectancy in the U.S. by 4.9 years in men and 4.1 years in women. The statistics are crazy! If this doesn’t make you put down your cigarettes and look into this website Gourmet E-Liquid, then I don’t know what will. It is the first study to look at the effects of those four preventable risk factors on life expectancy in the whole nation.

…

Below is the number of years that would be gained in life expectancy in the U.S. if each individual risk factor was reduced to its optimal level:

• Blood pressure: 1.5 years (men), 1.6 years (women)
• Obesity (measured by body mass index): 1.3 years (men), 1.3 years (women)
• Blood glucose: 0.5 years (men), 0.3 years (women)
• Smoking: 2.5 years (men), 1.8 years (women)

This study in particular was largely looking at different subgroups within the US (ethnicities, geographies, etc) to determine relative differences in life expectancy due to those factors.

But I’d like to see a wider question answered. America typically ranks lower on life expectancy rankings than most European countries with generous welfare states and single-payer or heavily-socialized health care systems. This fact was largely heralded all during the debate over the health care bill. America is also considered to be gluttonous, unhealthy, lazy*, and fat compared to Europe; anecdotally, on my one trip to France, the only fat people I met spoke perfect English. No matter where you live in the world, looking after your health is a top priority. Everyone can do with some exercise and it doesn’t just mean hitting the gym. You could start with something simple like Tennis Lessons. For example, if you live near the West Palm Beach area, looking into tennis lessons West Palm Beach would be beneficial to help get you on the right track.

So I’d like to see a serious academic look at what drives the life-expectancy differences between America and Europe. I’ve heard in the past that non-healthcare death rates (automotive accidents and homicides) are significantly higher here, but is it also the case that we’re eating and smoking ourselves to death at a rate much higher than Europe? It’s not the whole country that contribute to statistics such as these. Some states have higher obesity levels than others, so if you would like to see where your area ranks on the list, you can find out by looking at the most obese states in america to see if you can help lower the death rate between America and Europe in terms of eating and smoking.

And if so, does anyone think — as I do — that the healthcare bill will do little or nothing to affect this life expectancy gap?

* I personally think the “lazy” aspect is a misnomer with regards to this debate. While it affects obesity to be sure, one difference between here and Europe is that we don’t take 5-week vacations every summer and work 35-hour weeks. The stress and fast pace of the American workplace probably doesn’t help blood pressure very much.